


Show Me The Stars

by dusuessekartoffel



Category: Druck | SKAM (Germany)
Genre: F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, this is part of my new series: lou procrastinates her uni work too much, you decide what happens next
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:49:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29674473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dusuessekartoffel/pseuds/dusuessekartoffel
Summary: Sometimes, Fatou's mouth is faster than her brain and she says things without considering them first. Like when she tells her family that she has a girlfriend when, really, she doesn't at all. So now she needs to find a fake girlfriend as soon as possible and she's all out of options. Except maybe model physics student and ice queen Kieu My. But surely, she would never agree to this?Or; Kieutou Fake Dating AU where you decide what happens next for me.
Relationships: Fatou Jallow/Kieu My Vu
Comments: 66
Kudos: 120





	1. Ice Queen Alarm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A new fic? Whaaaat? Guess it's really obvious that my semester has started and I don't want to do my uni work.
> 
> The idea behind this fic is that, at the end of every chapter, you get to decide what's going to happen in the next chapter, kind of Choose Your Own Adventure style (or Wer mit wem? Entscheide du! if you're a German speaker). This is going to be "live", so to speak, so everyone who reads this and wants to can vote on what they want to happen next and then I write the next chapter according to your decision.
> 
> Shoutout to Michi and Söph for giving me the idea for this and shoutout to Söph again for beta reading the first chapter for me and also giving me a title. <3

**Chapter 1: Ice Queen Alarm**

Fatou doesn’t plan on saying it. It just slips out, as it so often happens when her mouth is faster than her brain and she’s saying things before she’s properly thought them through.

They’ve just gotten the invitation to her cousin’s wedding and their mother has turned to Ilai and said “Bring your lovely girlfriend” with such a proud and happy grin. It’s been the topic of conversation for the past months, that Ilai has a girlfriend now and how perfectly she fits into the family and how much their parents love her. Fatou hasn’t even met her yet and even though, when she’s honest to herself, she knows she’ll like her, she’s also so over Ilai boasting with how he’s in a serious relationship now. It feels like every phone call lately has been about how happy he is with his new girlfriend and there has been next to no other topic of conversation in the two days that he’s been home.

Which is why, when her mother says, “It will be so lovely that you won’t have to go alone” and her father adds “You should text her immediately so she can save the date!”, Fatou just can’t keep her mouth shut.

“I hope it’s okay if I bring my girlfriend too,” she says before she’s properly thought about what she’s saying.

“You have a girlfriend?” her mother asks, the beginning of a smile on her face, at the same time as Ilai asks “What girlfriend?” and their father gives her a proud look, all the questions he’s burning to ask visibly bubbling under the surface.

“Yes, I do,” Fatou repeats. She wants to strangle herself for just blurting it out like that without thinking about it first. She does _not_ have a girlfriend. She isn’t seeing anyone, she hasn’t in ages, and she doesn’t even know where she’d find a girlfriend if she was looking for one. But now she’s said it and she really can’t admit that it was a spur of the moment lie, not when her parents are looking at her with glowing faces and Ilai’s eyes are filled with so much curiosity.

“Well, who is she?” her father asks. “You haven’t told us about a girlfriend since –“

“Yes, yes, I know,” Fatou interrupts him. “It’s really new. Only a couple of days, actually.”

“Where do you know her from?” Ilai wants to know.

“School,” Fatou blurts out. Now that she’s started lying, it feels too easy to make up follow-up lie after follow-up lie without taking a moment to stop and make sure it all holds up. As long as they don’t ask her for a name.

“So, what is she called?” her mother smiles.

“Can you stop bombarding me with questions?” Fatou snaps at her. She feels a little bad for talking to her family like that when they haven’t even done anything to upset her (well, except for making Ilai’s relationship the number one topic for weeks on end now) but all she needs right now is to be alone and figure out a way to save this mess of a situation.

But of course she doesn’t get to be alone because when she gets up from the table to retract to her room, Ilai follows her and pointedly ignores all her efforts to close the door before he can enter her room.

“You made that up, right?” he grins as he lets himself fall onto her bed as if it’s his room they’re in. (It is in a way, Fatou guesses, since it used to belong to him before he went to Essen to study. But that doesn’t mean it’s still his. He’s the one who went away.)

“What?” Fatou gives him an affronted look, trying to sound as incredulous as possible. “Why would I make up a girlfriend?” She hates that he sees right through her.

“I don’t know, because you’re jealous of me?” Ilai asks. Jealous of her brother, as if. Fatou hasn’t been jealous of Ilai since they were kids and their grandparents got him the coolest lego pieces while she got a doll for Christmas. She’s definitely not jealous of how all her parents talk about lately is Ilai’s perfect girlfriend and how happy they are that he’s found someone and how they hope she comes to visit again as soon as possible and Fatou will get to meet her too. Of how they haven’t even noticed that, recently, her grades have been getting much better and she’s doing really well at her new job.

“As if I’d ever be jealous of your ugly face,” Fatou replies.

Ilai laughs and shoves her but he looks at her with his unbearable questioning look that always feels like he’s scanning her from top to bottom and seeing right through all her lies and secrets.

“Seriously, Fafa, if mum and dad talk about me too much and it bothers you, I’ll talk to them. I know they’re a little obsessed with my relationship,” Ilai says, more sincere now.

“It’s fine, Ilai. I’m sorry it bothers you that I happen to have a girlfriend at the same time as you,” Fatou snaps at him.

“Alright, Fafa. If you say so.” She hates how gentle he sounds and how it still feels like he’s seeing right through her.

But his sincere expression vanishes when a grin spreads on his face and he asks, “So, will you tell me about her?”

This is exactly what she was trying to avoid. As if making up a girlfriend isn’t bad enough, now she also needs to talk to Ilai about her without letting it slip that he was right all along and she doesn’t exist.

“Maybe another time,” she tries to get rid of him instead.

“Because you made her up, right?” He’s grinning again as Fatou rolls her eyes at him.

“No, because I’m just not up for talking to your boring ass right now.” He gives her a look saying he’s not amused at her calling him boring but she knows he doesn’t mean it just like he knows she doesn’t really think he’s boring.

Ilai gets up and shrugs. “Alright. I’ll let you have your little secrets for now. But I’m looking forward to meeting her!”

As soon as he’s left her room, Fatou sighs and lets herself plump onto her bed, burying her head in her pillow. That’s exactly what she needed on top of all the stress from school. A girlfriend that doesn’t exist.

…

She’s still thinking about it the next day, in one of the endless, boring physics classes she can barely make it through. Mr Friedel is going on and on about what might be magnetic fields or potentially electromagnetic induction, both of which she doesn’t understand anyway, and while Ava is paying attention and will hopefully explain it to her later, Fatou lets her thoughts wander. 

She can’t ask one of her Cashqueens. Not when Nora is in a happy relationship with Josh and Ava talks about whatever new boy she’s seeing whenever she’s over for dinner and Mailin has recently come out to them all as aromantic asexual. Besides, it would have too much potential to make things awkward between them. After all, she has her reasons for not dating friends, even if the dating is fake.

But now she’s in desperate need of a girlfriend and there are no options left. She could try to find someone on a dating app, maybe. Or ask her friends whether they know anyone who could help her. It’s just one day, after all. It can’t be that hard to find someone who’d be willing to attend a wedding with her, not if she sells it well. There’d be free food and hopefully some entertainment and maybe there’s someone out there who’d be up for going to a wedding. The only question is how to find that person.

She perks up when she hears Mr Friedel mention her name. “Fatou, Kieu My, you will work on alternating currents.”

Kieu My. Beautiful, always perfectly put-together ice queen. Part of the Instas, who after Nora’s debacle with Constantin and their history with Ava they’re mostly ignoring. Top student in Physics, the subject Fatou is failing the most of all. And, most importantly, both single and not straight. Maybe she can be her solution.

Fatou’s sure that Kieu My is the kind of person who’d never get herself into a mess like this. She’s way too perfect for that. She would never, ever be stupid enough to tell her family that she has a girlfriend when she very much does not. Which is why she can’t imagine that Kieu My would say yes. It’s not like they’re on speaking terms – not even close – and even if they were, there’s nothing in this for her. She probably gets invited to so many weddings that she’s sick and tired of them by now. Besides, Fatou’s not even sure they’d get along and that would immediately blow their cover.

Still, when Kieu My looks at her and gives her a tiny smile, she thinks there may be a chance she’s in. Maybe she’d think it’s fun, to pretend to date her to go to a wedding. Or maybe, even if she’s part of the Instas, she’d have sympathy for Fatou and do it out of pity. (Fatou really doesn’t want anyone to pity her, not when she’s been so stupid, but she’s a little desperate at this point.) Maybe she’ll just ask her. It’s not like that would hurt.

But Kieu My practically runs out of the classroom as soon as the lesson is over and when Fatou leaves the room, she’s already nowhere to be seen. So much for asking her to be her fake girlfriend then.

Maybe it’s better that way. Maybe all it would have brought her is a ton of embarrassment in front of one of the prettiest girls she knows. She’ll find someone else to do it, someone who’s not as distant as Kieu My and preferably someone who’s not quite as perfect. Even if it feels like she’s all out of options at the moment.

Absorbed in her thoughts about the relationship she doesn’t have and Kieu My’s ice queen persona, she doesn’t pay attention at all on her way to the bathroom and it’s only when she’s in the middle of opening the door that she notices she’s not alone. She hears an “ouch” and when she looks up, Kieu My is standing there, rubbing her shoulder. This has to be a sign from the universe.

“Shit, sorry, did I hit you with the door?” Fatou asks. She can almost hear her mother’s fond, slightly exasperated voice in her head. _Typical, not paying attention to what’s going on around her because she’s always with her head in the clouds, our Fatou._ (No chance Kieu My would say yes now.)

“It’s fine, don’t worry,” Kieu My murmurs. She’s almost past Fatou now and Fatou knows this is her last chance to ask, so before she can overthink it, she calls out her name.

Kieu My turns around with a confused look.

“Uhm, so, I know this is really weird and we’re not friends or even talk, really, but I really need someone to …” Fatou’s half sure she’s making a big mistake with this but now she’s started already, so she takes a deep breath and continues. “Well, to pretend to be my girlfriend and I don’t really know anyone else I could ask.”

“Pretend to be your girlfriend?” Fatou has no idea how to read the look on Kieu My’s face. It’s somewhere between disbelief, amusement and ridicule.

“Yes. Uhm, not for long, it’s just, my cousin’s getting married next month and I said I’d bring my girlfriend, except I don’t have one, well, that’s it, really. I’ll tell everyone we broke up after that.” It feels like she’s forgotten how to put together a coherent sentence as she’s stumbling over her words.

Kieu My raises an eyebrow. “Why would I do that?”

Yeah, why would she? There really is no reason for her to be in. They’ve exchanged maybe ten words in total in the past years.

“Uhm, I’ll invite you for ice cream?” Fatou suggests but she already knows when she says it that it’s a weak suggestion.

Kieu My laughs a little. “Look, I’m sorry you need a fake girlfriend, but I don’t think I’m the right person for the job,” she says. She almost looks like she _is_ sorry.

“Yeah, of course. Sorry, I didn’t mean … forget about it, it was really … stupid and anyway … you …” Fatou trails off and then, before this situation can get even more embarrassing, she turns around and walks off.

She hasn’t even walked ten meters away when Kieu My calls out, “Fatou, wait!”

When she turns around with an expectant look on her face, Kieu My rolls her eyes. Her facial expression looks almost pained.

“Alright. I’ll pretend to be your girlfriend,” she says. but before Fatou can thank her for it, she continues. “Under one condition. If I pretend to date you for that wedding, you need to pretend to be my girlfriend so I can get revenge on these two idiots over there,” she points towards Constantin and Ismail.

Fatou’s not sure what she expected but it’s not that. Pretend to be Kieu My’s girlfriend in return? Her thoughts oscillate somewhere between relief, confusion and … _revenge_?

“Revenge for what?” she wants to know.

Kieu My rolls her eyes again. “They said something really stupid a few years ago and now –” Fatou doesn’t let her finish.

“And now you think it would be funny to pretend I’m your girlfriend because that’s so ridiculous?” Fatou completes her sentence.

“That’s not how I meant it!” Kieu My protests.

“Yeah, sure,” Fatou replies. Asking Kieu My for this was definitely a mistake. She has almost turned around again when Kieu My continues talking.

“It’s really not how I meant it,” she says now, her voice turned softer. “It’s just that they said something really stupid a few weeks ago, uhm, they made this bet about who would have a relationship last and, well, I really want to prove them wrong so … this seems like the perfect way to do it.”

Fatou isn’t sure she quite believes her. She’s also not quite sure she wants to pretend to date Kieu My in front of top-ranking class idiots Constantin and Ismail. But she’s not sure she has a choice. There’s no other option if she doesn’t want to risk Kieu My saying no after all and having to find someone else. Unless she manages to convince her otherwise.

Should Fatou **accept Kieu My’s condition** OR **try to negotiate with Kieu My**?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! <3
> 
> If you want to participate in voting on what happens next, just write a comment saying what you want Fatou to do. Because I need time to write the next chapter and I don't want to leave you waiting for too long, I'm going to put a deadline for this for February 27. I hope it's going to be fun!


	2. Chapter 2: Why Won't You Do It For Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who has read the first chapter and voted on what should happen next! I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of comments but I'm so grateful for all of you and for making this work. <3 
> 
> So you decided to make it hard for me and chose negotiate, huh? Thanks a lot. (I'm just kidding, I love this!) 
> 
> I have to admit, I'm still figuring out how to write Kieutou and also I'm tired, so this chapter is not that great but I hope you like it!

**Chapter 2: Why Won’t You Do It For Me**

It’s worth a try, Fatou supposes. She really doesn’t want to spend any time with Constantin and Ismail and besides, she still doesn’t fully trust in Kieu My’s explanation for why she needs to pretend to date her in front of them. The last thing she wants is to end up as the punchline to some prank.

So she tries again. “Look, I really don’t want to spend any more time with those idiots than I need to. You know, that whole thing that happened with Ava … that was really not okay.” She can see Kieu My’s facial expression grow more and more disinterested with every word she says. “Uhm, so I would prefer not to do that.”

“Sure, if you have lots of girls lining up to pretend to be your girlfriend, feel free to ask one of them.” Kieu My raises an eyebrow at her.

That one hurts a little. It’s easy for beautiful, perfect Kieu My to say. She probably has lots of girls lining up who want to date her for real.

“You know I don’t,” Fatou replies and she hates how she’s starting to sound a little desperate now.

“Well, that’s my condition,” Kieu My repeats. She doesn’t look like she’s planning on changing her mind anytime soon.

Fatou can see Ismail and Constantin out of the corner of her eye, fooling around on the stairs and looking like one of them is going to end up in a hospital soon. She keeps thinking of Ava, of how they still behave like such assholes towards her. She really can’t stand the thought of spending time with them. And she can’t say yes anymore anyway, not after she said she wouldn’t do it. That would be too embarrassing.

“So, how about that ice cream?” she tries again instead.

For a tiny moment, Fatou thinks there might be a smile on Kieu My’s face but she’s almost sure that she’s imagining it a second later already when Kieu My rolls her eyes. (Fatou tries not to worry about how often she’s done that in her presence already.)

“Sorry, I’m out of here,” Kieu My says. Now Fatou’s sure she imagined that smile because when Kieu My turns around to walk away, she doesn’t even say goodbye.

“Kieu My, please wait!” Fatou calls out. She can’t believe she’s running after Kieu My for the second time in the same day. She doesn’t do this, usually, run after girls who clearly aren’t interested at all. But she was so close to solving all her problems and now she’s managed to ruin it again. There has to be a way to save this.

Kieu My turns around for the second time that day, with a much more annoyed look on her face this time.

“I help you, you help me, Fatou. It’s as easy as that,” she says.

Fatou takes a deep breath. If there’s no other way, maybe she just needs to give in. Or …

“Alright, how about this,” Fatou suggests. “I can pretend to be your girlfriend in school so Ismail and Constantin see. But I don’t want to spend any time with them.”

Kieu My scrunches up her face. (Fatou has to admit that she looks adorable when she does that. If she keeps acting more like this, maybe pretending to be in love with her won’t be that hard.)

“Alright, sure,” she says. “I guess that’s fair enough.”

Before Fatou has thought about what she’s doing, she’s already hugging Kieu My, squeezing out a “thank you” that sounds too enthusiastic. She half thinks Kieu My will take back her agreement but when she pulls back with a small “sorry”, Kieu My is smiling at her.

“You really were desperate, huh?” she asks with a grin.

Fatou gives her a pained expression. “Maybe,” she murmurs.

Kieu My shakes her head at her, in what she thinks is a fond way, and then she promptly sits down on the floor and has pulled out a pretty notebook before Fatou has even registered what is happening. “Okay, we need a plan,” she announces. 

“We have one,” Fatou replies as she sits down next to her. “We tell people we’re dating, maybe hold hands every now and then, eventually you come to my cousin’s wedding as my date, we pretend that we’re in love and then we tell everyone that we broke up after.”

Kieu My shakes her head. “And you think they’ll just believe that we’re a couple? No, we need to do this properly. We need a strategy. Make sure we really seem like we’re a couple so people don’t figure out that we’re faking it.” She opens a page in her notebook and writes down _How to make sure people don’t figure out we’re only fake dating_.

Fatou’s still a little confused about this. Five minutes ago, she still had to convince Kieu My to pretend to date her and now she’s fully invested and trying to come up with a detailed plan? But she’s glad one of them is taking the initiative because, in classic Fatou fashion, she probably would have just created a bigger mess. 

“What do you suggest?” Fatou asks.

Kieu My looks at her like she’s never been more ready to answer that question. “Well, obviously we need to know each other well to make it believable. Also, we need a good story for why we’re dating. How did we meet? Who made the first step? When did you fall in love with me?” She’s talking so fast now that it feels like she’s not even noticing Fatou anymore. “And what happens after? Who breaks up with whom? Why do we break up? This is not as easy as it seems, Fatou.” Kieu My gives her a pointed look. 

“Okay, calm down,” Fatou laughs at her. “We can figure it out as we go.”

“We need at least some rules,” Kieu My protests. She writes _Rules_ into her notebook and underlines it twice.

“You’re really into this, huh?” Fatou grins. She always knew that Kieu My is an organised person but she didn’t expect her to be _this_ organised.

Kieu My suddenly looks a little insecure. She shrugs. “I just like planning things.”

“Don’t be sorry. It’s, uh, cute.” As soon as she’s said it, Fatou wants to vanish into the floor. Why does she always blurt out whatever thought crosses her mind? (Even if it’s true.)

But Kieu My is smiling. “See, you’re doing a good job already.”

Fatou can feel her cheeks heating up at Kieu My’s stare but she tries to ignore that and instead asks, “So, what rules do you want?”

“Okay, first, I think we should tell who we tell the truth.” Kieu My writes it down immediately, in her handwriting that, to Fatou’s surprise, is not as neat as she would have expected. In fact, it’s so messy that she’s not sure she could decipher it if she didn’t know what it meant.

“Ava,” Fatou replies immediately. “And Nora and Mailin.”

“You can’t just tell everyone!” Kieu My protests.

“It’s not everyone, it’s just my friends.” Fatou isn’t about to negotiate on this too. She can’t keep something like this from the Cashqueens. That’s not the kind of friends they are, unlike Kieu My with Constantin and Ismail.

But Kieu My is not about to make things easy for her, it seems. “Well, I only want to tell Zoe and it’s unfair if you get to tell three people.”

“But they’re my friends!” Fatou protests. Kieu My throws her an irritated look.

She decides to give in eventually, even though she is set to break their first rule already (as if Zoe could keep any secrets from Nora anyway), and then Kieu My asks the question Fatou’s been a little scared of ever since the idea of rules came up.

“So, how do we do this?” Kieu My is gesturing between the two of them. “What is allowed?”

“Uhm, holding hands?” Fatou cautiously suggests.

“Yes, that’s good!” Kieu My proceeds to write it down as something that looks more like _bold & bands_. “What else?”

“Hugging?” Not that they need to be in a pretend relationship for that, as Fatou has already managed to prove.

Kieu My gives her an approving sound and notes down what might as well mean _logs_. There’s a short pause before she asks, “What about kissing?”

Fatou isn’t quite sure what to say to that. She can’t keep her eyes from wandering to Kieu My’s lips before quickly looking away again, hoping that Kieu My hasn’t noticed anything. Maybe it would be nice to kiss Kieu My … not that it matters, when it would be fake anyway.

“Maybe we can decide spontaneously on that?” she proposes instead. 

“Yes, that’s a good point,” Kieu My murmurs and writes what Fatou assumes means _kissing depends on situation_ into her notebook.

There’s another moment of silence between them, in which Fatou is desperately trying to come up with something to say to make it feel less awkward.

“Okay, I think that’s the most important stuff, I really need to go now!” Kieu My suddenly says, in a voice that sounds just a tiny bit too cheery. She takes a quick photo of her notes, announcing, “I’ll send this to you, alright?”

“Yeah, thanks,” Fatou murmurs. A little earlier, she might have teased Kieu My about the fact that she can’t really read her notes anyway, but now it feels like the moment for mindless joking around has passed.

“Great!” Kieu My is standing now and Fatou isn’t sure she’s ever noticed before how tall she really is. It’s a little intimidating, especially with her clearly fake smile.

But before she’s quite gone, Kieu My turns around again and grins at Fatou, much more genuinely than just moments earlier. “Don’t think I won’t hold you to that ice cream though,” she says with a wink and then she’s gone for real. Fatou still can’t quite believe what just happened.

An hour ago, she still thought she’d need to go on various dating apps to look for someone to help her out of this mess and now she has a girlfriend. Well, a fake girlfriend. Exactly what she wanted. And she needs to pretend to date her not only in front of her entire family but also in front of the entire school. (Or the approximately three people who are actually going to care, but still, it’s a scary thought. For a short moment, Fatou thinks she should try to make less impulsive decisions. Then she’s reminded of Ilai looking at her in awe when they were children and saying “Fafa, I wish I was a bit more like you when it comes to making decisions.”)

“Hey Fatou, do you know about …?” she suddenly hears a voice say behind her and then, after a moment of stunned silence. “Wait, was that Kieu My?” Yara is standing next to her now, her eyes big and curious.

It seems like the perfect opportunity to spread the rumour about their relationship. But Fatou hasn’t even talked to the Cashqueens yet and she knows Ava would never forgive her if she found out about this from Nora who knew from Josh who knew from Yara. So instead, it might be safer to tell Yara that it was nothing and let her find out herself once they properly start their pretence. Right now, Fatou wouldn’t mind an impulsive decision, with Yara still giving her world’s most curious look and Kieu My just visible at the other end of the hall.

Should Fatou **try to get rid of Yara to tell the Cashqueens about what just happened** OR **lie to Yara about being in a relationship with Kieu My**? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vote on what Fatou should do next until March 6!


	3. Chapter 3: We Could Not Be More Far Apart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry for the delay with this chapter! But on the upside, this is my favourite chapter so far. I hope you like it too!

**Chapter 3: We Could Not Be More Far Apart**

Maybe it’s too early to tell people about her fake relationship, especially when she hasn’t even talked to Kieu My about how they’re going to spread the rumour yet. Sure she has a plan for this too and Fatou doesn’t want to risk ruining it.

So she tells Yara, “Yeah, we’re just doing a physics project together.”

“Oh, jackpot!” Yara answers with a grin. “And it looks like you’re getting along too.”

“Yeah, uhm, Kieu My can be pretty nice when she’s on her own,” Fatou says. It’s a weird thought, that it’s not a lie when she says it. But she really was nice, when they were talking earlier.

Yara gives her a conspiratorial look that Fatou isn’t quite sure how to read. Maybe it’s a good soon. It will be a piece of cake to make Yara believe she’s truly in love with Kieu My. (Although, with how they haven’t even started putting their plan into motion, Fatou really doesn’t know why Yara is already so suspicious.)

But she leaves her alone after that and goes to look for her Cashqueens. A tiny part of Fatou feels bad that she’s already breaking the first rule of her arrangement with Kieu My but what did she expect? Of course she can’t keep this from her closest friends. She could never do that to them.

She eventually finds them in front of Mailin’s locker, from which Mailin is just pulling a sports bag that seems too big to have fit in the first place. Ava and Nora are talking animatedly but they look terribly much like they’re just about to leave school.

“Fatou!” Nora calls out to her. “We desperately need your opinion here. Sparkling water, yes or no?”

“Ugh, gross,” Fatou replies, which grants her a satisfied look from Ava.

“I told you she would have the right opinion!” she tells Nora smugly, while Nora is shooting Fatou disappointed looks. “How can you enjoy such a monstrosity?”

“I can’t believe you’re all leaving me alone with this!” Nora complains but she’s grinning and it’s nice to see her like that, all silly and worrying about nothing but her best friends’ superior taste in beverages.

There’s a moment of silence and Fatou knows that if there’s going to be any moment where she can bring it up, it’s now.

“Uhm, so something happened that I wanted to talk to you about,” she starts. 

“Is everything alright?” Ava immediately asks while Nora is giving her big eyes and Mailin turns around from her locker with a questioning look on her face.

“Yeah, yeah, no worries,” Fatou says. “It’s just, well, yesterday …”

It’s at that moment that Josh calls out Nora’s name from the other side of the hall and she gives Fatou an excusatory look. “Can you tell me another time? We’re having dinner with Josh’s mum today and I really don’t want to be late.”

For a short moment, Fatou wants to tell her to stay and listen because she’s scared she may never tell the Cashqueens if she doesn’t right now, but then she just nods and hugs Nora goodbye.

Mailin gives her a guilty look as well. “My football practice is about to start, actually, so maybe we can all talk about this tomorrow?”

“Yeah, sure.” Fatou tries to give her a smile and she seems to be succeeding too, because Mailin says “Okay, great!” and walks away too.

So maybe she can stick to her rule with Kieu My after all and only tell Ava. But when she turns around to her best friend, she’s standing there with her jacket closed and her bag slung over her shoulder, looking ready to go away too.

“I’m sorry, Chibi, it would be really good if I could go home too, if the others don’t have time anyway. You know I have my physics presentation next week already and I’d really like to start. But we can talk tomorrow!”

This time, Fatou really can’t just let her walk away, not when she’s this close to telling her and now it feels like everything is slipping from her control. She can’t not tell Ava, not with her history with the Instas.

“Ava, I really need to tell you …” she starts but trails off when she sees Ava’s apologetic look. She looks really stressed. “Nevermind, I’ll tell you tomorrow.”

“First thing tomorrow, promise!” Ava calls out as she’s already walking away, leaving Fatou on her own and with her secrets still secrets, not even approximately ready to be spilled.

…

Fatou almost texts Ava that evening and she almost texts their group chat in the morning but she doesn’t manage to do it. She wants to be able to explain herself properly and she doesn’t know if the others will understand her right via text. Instead, when she looks at her phone right before leaving for school, there’s a new message, right at the top, from a number she doesn’t have saved yet.

_Do we start pretending today? I told Zoe yesterday and she already almost told Finn, so we can’t wait too long haha_

Fatou wants to tell her no, that she needs to tell the Cashqueens first, but she also can’t admit that she’s already about to break their rule of telling only one person. Kieu My seems too adamant about rules to be okay with breaking them, especially self-imposed ones. So she just texts back “sure” and leaves for school, not quite ready for what is about to happen.

She’s not sure whether she’s supposed to approach Kieu My, when she enters school and sees her there, surrounded by her friends. There’s a short moment where she’s just standing there, torn between joining the Cashqueens, already looking at her with expectant and slightly confused looks, and saying hi to Kieu My. But her new fake girlfriend makes the decision for her when she gets up and walks towards her.

“Morning!” Kieu My says brightly. And then, without a second’s hesitation, she kisses her on the cheek. Fatou desperately tries to not look as flustered as she’s feeling. This is already harder than she expected and it’s not made easier by the Cashqueens giving her incredibly confused looks now. At least Kieu My’s friends look just as bewildered, except for Zoe, who’s grinning widely, and Finn, who’s so clearly trying to look puzzled that it’s blatantly obvious he knows exactly what’s going on. So much for only one other person knowing.

Fatou has no idea how she’s supposed to proceed from here. Does she need to stay with Kieu My? Or can she just go to her friends as normal, except nothing is normal anymore, not when Kieu My just kissed her in front of the entire school and she hasn’t had a chance to forewarn her friends?

“Uhm, I think I need to go talk to my friends, alright?” Fatou decides to tell Kieu My.

“Yeah, of course! See you in physics class!” she replies, still with her cheery voice and her smile. Why is she so good at this and why is Fatou not?

She awkwardly makes her way over to the Cashqueens, not really sure how to judge their reactions. Mailin is sitting there with a shocked expression on her face, Nora is giving her a grin, albeit a slightly bemused one, and Ava is not really showing any discernible emotion.

“So that’s what you wanted to tell us!” Nora exclaims. “How did that happen? When did it start? Why didn’t you tell us anything sooner?” She talks so fast that her words start tumbling over each other while she fires out question after question.

“Uhm, actually –” Fatou starts but she’s interrupted by Mailin saying “I’m happy for you!”

“Yeah, of course!” Nora adds. “You guys are so cute!” And then she starts going on and on about how this is a surprise to her but she thinks they’re adorable together. 

Ava still isn’t saying anything. She’s just sitting there, all closed off. The only thing Fatou knows for certain is that she’s not happy about any of this.

“Ava?” Fatou asks, in a voice that comes out tinier and quieter than she planned it to.

Nora’s still asking questions when Ava finally turns to her. Now, Fatou’s pretty sure her face is angry. “I can’t believe you’d do this,” Ava says, clear and confident, and then she gets up and leaves.

“Shit,” Fatou murmurs to herself and before she knows it, she’s going after Ava. She needs to explain herself, right now.

“Ava! Please wait, I can explain. Ava!” she shouts, her voice getting increasingly louder. She just hopes it’s not too late to salvage things now.

Ava stops eventually, in the middle of a school corridor, and lets herself fall to the floor.

“Then explain it,” she says, still with her horribly cold voice.

“It’s not real!” Fatou exclaims, and then, when a few students from the grade below her turn around, she repeats herself, quieter this time. “That’s what I was trying to tell you yesterday. That it’s not real.”

“What does that mean, not real?” Ava asks.

“It’s fake. It’s all fake. We’re just pretending,” Fatou explains.

“Why on earth would you fake a relationship? With _Kieu My_?” Ava wants to know.

Fatou’s not sure where to start. It would have been so much easier to just tell Ava the day before, when none of this was a reality yet and she could have still backed out if she wanted to.

“So, you know my cousin, you met her a while ago … well, it doesn’t really matter, but anyway, she’s getting married soon and you know how Ilai has a girlfriend now?” she starts rambling.

“You’re not making any sense, Chibi,” Ava replies.

“Well, I told my family that I have a girlfriend too,” she can already see Ava’s face grow more confused, “which, obviously, I don’t, and then I needed someone to pretend to be my girlfriend, and, well, Kieu My seemed like a good choice.”

“A good choice?” Ava asks. “In which world is Kieu My _a good choice_?”

“Well, it’s not like I had a ton of options, she’s one of the only other girls who’s out in our year.” It makes her feel stupid, when she’s saying it. She doesn’t really understand herself anymore, now that she’s talking to Ava and feeling so scrutinised.

“You could have asked me,” Ava objects.

“Come on, you know my parents would never have bought that! They know you too well,” Fatou explains. She knows Ava knows she’s right when her expression turns slightly sour.

“Still, you could have asked someone else. It didn’t have to be someone who’s friends with Constantin and Ismail,” Ava repeats. Fatou can tell she’s truly pissed off now.

She should have known. All the time, when she was talking to Kieu My and asking her for help and being happy about having solved her problem, she should have known. Of course Ava would have an issue with this. She should have thought about that before. But it’s not even a real relationship. It’s not like this means that she’s going to spend tons of time with Constantin and Ismail now or that Ava will need to. It’s just a temporary solution to a stupid problem and all Fatou wanted was for someone to talk to about it. Someone who would support her. But clearly, Ava’s not that person right now.

The rest of the day doesn’t get much better. She largely avoids Kieu My at school while Ava avoids her, and when she gets home, she hears laughter coming out of Ilai’s room. A sound that’s become all too familiar lately.

“We’re just on the phone!” her mother calls out when she hears her enter the flat. “Come say hi too!”

Of course. Ilai’s perfect girlfriend is on the phone again and it’s treated like the event of the century. That’s the last thing she needs right now, so she vanishes into her own room, puts on some music and is ready to sulk for the rest of the day.

It doesn’t work well. She can still hear giggling coming from Ilai’s room and maybe, if she’s honest to herself, it makes her a little sad that her family is over there, all together and having fun, and she’s here on her own. Maybe she really should go say hi to his girlfriend. She hasn’t talked to her yet and she knows she should at least try, even if Ilai and his annoying relationship have been getting on her nerves. But she’s not really in the mood for talking to people, not when Ava has been ignoring her for an entire day. She hates fighting with Ava, more than anything else.

She’s not genuinely making a mistake with this, is she? It’s just a fun pretend relationship because she’s too proud to admit to her family that she lied to them. It’s not even going to last long, just until that stupid wedding. It’s a little silly, maybe, to get a fake girlfriend instead of just admitting a mistake, but it’s not like it’s doing any harm, really. She wants to text Ava that, tell her that it’s none of her business what she’s doing anyway, but she doesn’t want to fight even more. And when she looks at her last messages and sees the one from Kieu My, all she really wants to do is text her back to reassure herself she’s not making a mistake. Except that might make everything worse.

Should Fatou **text Kieu My out of frustration** OR **go say hi to Ilai’s girlfriend**? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Write a comment until March 16 if you want to vote on what Fatou should do next.


End file.
